Apparatus for the production of matte and smelting of ores.



"R. R. MOORE 6: J. H. KEES. APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUUTION 0P MATTE AND'SMELTING 0F ORE-S.

APPLICATION FILED Ammo. 1909. 985, 195.

Patented Feb. 28, 1911.

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R. R. 00113 & J. 11. KEES. APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MATTE AND SMELTING OF ORES. APPLIOATION FILED APR.20. 1909 985,195. Patented Feb.28,1911.

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11W AES PAT nib.

REDICK It. MOORE, 0F GARFIELD, AND JOHN H. KEES, OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MATTE AND SMELTING- 0F ORES.

same.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 28, 1911.

Application filed April 20, 1909. Serial No. 491,140.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, RnDIoK R. Moonn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Garfield, in the county of Salt Lake and State of Utah, and JOHN H. Knns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Salt Lake City, in the county of Salt Lake and State of Utah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for the Production of Matte and Smelting of Ores; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to smelting furnaces and has for an object to provide a furnace with means for a continuous production of matte of lead, copper, nickel, cobalt and precious metals without the need of calcining and without the use of carbonaceous fuel, whereby a great saving is eifected in the cost of smelting and the losses in metal values incident thereto.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a smelting furnace a converting chamber with a furnace stack in communication therewith but with the converting chamber offset from the furnace stack.

A further object of the invention is to provide a converting chamber in communication with a furnace stack but in such a manner that the weight of the material in the furnace stack is not transmitted to the material within the chamber.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a smelting furnace a chamber with means for blasting the matte within the chamber and with a furnace stack in communication with the chamber in such position that the products of combustion from the blast of the chamber is passed into and through the stack and the material within the stack.

With these and other objects in view the invention comprises certain novel construc-.

tions, combinations and arrangements of parts as will be hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view of the improved matte blast furnace in vertical transverse section. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sect-ion through the converting chamber taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrow.

Like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

The present invention embodies a blast furnace stack 10 supported in any approved manner, as upon the pillars 11, and lined as the occasion may require wit-h highl refractory material indicated at 12. ffset from the interior of the stack 10 is the passage 13 extending in a horizontal plane and communicating with a converter or converting chamber 14, the vertical axis of which is parallel with the vertical axis of the stack. The bottom or base 15 of the converter is appropriately mounted upon beams 16 which in turn are mounted upon other beams 1'7 carried upon trucks 18 so that when the bottom of the converter has been burned out or for other reasons requires replacing it can be moved outwardly upon the track 19. The converter is surrounded by a flue 20 communicating by means of a pipe 21 with any approved source of compressed air supply and from such flue 20 a plurality of twyers 22 lead to the interior of the converter adjacent the bottom thereof. At one side, as indicated at 23, a discharge opening is provided through which the matte and slag are removed from the converter. The converter is also preferably water-jacketed as indicated at 21, which may be in the usual and ordinary form and is here shown only conventionally.

It has been discovered by applicants that more than enough heat escapes in the gases from the ordinary copper converter to smelt the sulfids of ores into a molten matte and the apparatus which is here disclosed utilizes the escaping heat from such mass for that purpose and for the heating of the silica and other constituents of the charge, and provides a cheap and economical smelting device for the smelting of sulfids, arsenids, etc., together with the necessary silica and such amounts of alumina, lime, etc., as ordinarily occur with ores of copper, lead or precious metals, to form liquid slags free from metal, or economically so, without the use of any carbon or other added fuel, and once the operation is started it is continuous as long as the blast of air is injected into the bath and the supply of sulfids, silica and fluxes is maintained in the shaft. In other words in the present invention the gases produced from the oxidation of the iron and sulfur of the bath of matte are not combustible and only the heat which they contain when they: leave thebathjis utilined which is ample for melting the sulfids of the charge and'the heating of the silicas and other constituents thereof.

I It will-be noted that the twyers are placed below thematte'and slag level in. the converter a sufficient distance to insurejthe employment of all the oxygen to support combustion in the converter, but it will be understood that additional orsupplemental twyers maybe employed either in the con 1 verter or stack or at any point where adlditional or supplemental supply of air blast i and is maintained at such level substantially,

may be found-to be advisable or profitable.

Ordinarily the level of thematte. and slag I is somewhatabove thebottom of the passage:

between the converter vesselandithe stack byfthe conversion ofthe 'mass within the stack and the formation of the matte at'the bottom which passes over int o-the converter 1 andfis discharged as above described.

The: blast of the air through the matte and molten materials within the converter ralses'the temperature of the gases of combuSt101rtQttIl 1ntQi1Se heat, and these gases 1 pass through thepasages 13 and into the stacklO where they pass into the interstices of the material within the stack coming ln-contact wlth such material to convert it as above described; 7

WVhi'lea simple form of the apparatus is fihere' shown, with the stack vertical and a invention."

single converter'co-nnected therewitln it is to be understood thatfthe number of converters or the exact angular position of the stack as shown is not essential to the present 'It iswell known that when'iron pyrites or copper-pyrites are heated to a. high degree of temperature a portion of the sulfur "is volatilized by the heat and this sulfuris ordinarily' burned uponthe top of the charge withoutuseful effect and is lost. In order to' conserve the sulfurthusfset free, in the present invention condenser 25 is employed preferably formed within the wall of the stack of the furnace 10 so arranged that the such passage 26 inclined downwardly to V prevent the chargewithin the stack from a entering therein.

pm offsulfur (S) and sulfurous acid (S0 I are both present with nitrogen in the upper 'sulfurousgas proper-may ent'er such c0ndenser '25 through the passage 26 but with In; operation the furnace stack 10' is charged with the ores to be reduced anda quantity of the molten matte from any source is placed within the c'onverter. .Va-

part of furnacestreating pyrites or pyrrhotite or chaleo'pyrite,' and the sulfur will be condensed upon the cool charge if the @Charge column is 'highenoug-h above the source of heatfor the charge toabsorb the heat-out of the -vapor ofsulfur and associated gases to the temperature of the conden sation,--of sulfur, and as the charge is continually traveling downward the condensed sulfur will be again vaporizedresulting in a zone 1n the stack where the gases permeating the interstices of the charge will-be-saturated with sulfur vapor. Now if there is an opening or pocket in the wall of'the stack at the point o'fsaturation the gases there will tend to enter and circulate through it, especially as its walls arecooler than the stack and condensation of sulfur, and in doing so will deposita part of the sulfur volatilized from the charge. If desired to secure more active circulation of the and vapors through the condensers, the upperor punch hole shown in the outer wall of the furnace maybe opened more or less and as there is a slight pressure in the furnace any desired circulationmay'be secured but as the sulfurous vapors given off are very noxious it is sulfurous gas which with the nitrogen of the 7 air will give up its heat to the cooler charge thus melting down sulfids to form more matte and replenish the fuel of the converter chamber and heating the silica and other constituents of'the charge to a point where theyreadily form slag with the ferrous oxid already formed, and the gases pass out of the top of the'stack in a cooled or partially cooled eondit'ionf I In the use of the ores which come from the mines with parts broken finely it is preferable to charge the stack with'the fine portion of the ores separate from the coarser ores so that the heated gases will not be retarded by the fine particles of ores filling in the interstices between the coarse particles. For this purposethe stack is built as shown so that in charging the fine ores maybe charged upon one side of the stack with the coarser ores upon the other side; Q

What weclaim is 1. The combination with a furnace of a converting chamber opening directly thereinto and offset therefrom with a shoulder 'therebetween positioned and arranged to maintain a column of silica and other constitu'entsof the furnace charge in the furn'ace, and a bath ofmolten matte and slag in the converter chamber the upper part of V whichis incontinuous engagement with the base of the column of silica and other conwalls and chiefly on account as the cooling stituents, and means to facilitate the forcing offa blast of air through the matte and the resulting sulfurous and nitrogenous gases through the charge in the furnace.

2. The combination with a converting chamber of a furnace offset therefrom and opening directly thereinto permitting the sulfurous and nitrogenous gases to pass through the charge and having a bottom arranged to carry the weight of the charge therein and prevent the molten matte in the converter chamber being subjected thereto while being maintained in engagement with the constitutents of the furnace charge means to admit an air blast through the bath of matte and slag in the converting chamber means to remove the liquid products.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures 1n presence of two witnesses.

REDIGK R. MOORE. JOHN H. KEES.

WVitnesses:

WV. J. LEWIS, J r., H. D. JACOBS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

